First Battle of Chin'toka
fires on a Cardassian orbital weapon platform. |conflict=Dominion War |date=2374 |place=Chin'toka system |result=Federation Alliance victory |combatant1=Federation Alliance |combatant2=Dominion, Cardassian Union |co1= General Martok, Captain Benjamin Sisko |co2= Unknown |strength1= Hundreds of starships, ground troops. |strength2= Hundreds of OWPs, five squadrons of Jem'Hadar attack ships, planetary defense forces |shiploss1= Dozens of starships |shiploss2= total |casualties1= |casualties2= |prev= Third Battle of Vulcanis |next= Raid on Monac IV }} The First Battle of Chin'toka was the first offensive launched by the allied forces of the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Star Empire into Cardassian territory during the Dominion War. Planning stages The inclusion of the Romulan Star Empire into the Federation Alliance stretched the Dominion's forces opening up the possibility for an invasion of Cardassian territory. Captain Benjamin Sisko was given the task by Starfleet Command to select the location of the attack, he chose the Chin'toka system. ( ) The system was defended by a meager force of five squadrons of Jem'Hadar attack ships due to the Dominion needing extra ships on the Romulan front. The allies started to gather their forces at Deep Space 9 in preparation for the attack. During the preparations the allies learned that a new planetary defense system had been deployed within the system, the Orbital weapon platforms were heavily armed and would make the attack far tougher then expected. The allies agreed to deploy as soon as possible. ( ) The battle The fleet arrived in the system to find the platforms still disabled. The meager Dominion forces engaged the Klingons, despite being heavily outnumbered they caused significant damage to the Klingon fleet through the use of suicide tactics. The losses did not deter the fleet and it continued on and engaged the outer platforms, easily destroying them. The battle that took a turn with the entire weapons platform system coming online. The fleet was suddenly surrounded by active and very powerful platforms. The platforms immediately took a toll on the fleet, particularly the Romulans as two of their warbirds took heavy damage when the system came online. Despite the losses the allied fleet continued to press on through the platforms. The was able to find a weakness with the system. All the platforms shared a single power source. The Defiant was successful in destroying the power source, instantly disabling every single platform. The fleet then quickly dealt with the offline platforms, though several were preserved for study by the allied militaries. With the space within the system secured the allies went about the second phase of the operation, the capture of the planets. ( ) The Aftermath The Dominion was able to bottle up the alliance in the Chin'toka system, stopping a grand push into Cardassian territory. The system would turn into an vast battleground with Dominion forces constantly trying to wrest back control of the system. ( ) The allies would eventually be forced from the system almost a year after they first took control during the Second Battle of Chin'toka. ( ) Participating starships * ( ) * ( ) * ( ) * ( ) * ( ) * ( ) * ( ) * ( ) * ( ) * ( ) Chin'toka, First Battle of